I know I am late to the game. Kokomos have been open for a few months now but I have never gotten around to trying it until last night. I had heard that it was ‘pricey but tasty’ so when we spotted their island banquet option, it was a good excuse to try it out.
Island banquet 8 most popular dishes ($49.00) you can add a key lime pie to the banquet and at $1.00 pp, why wouldn’t you?
Salt and vinegar taro chips. The taste of vinegar isn’t too strong; nice and crispy but there were more interesting things to eat.
Mullaway ceviche coconut, ginger, cherry tomato, Thai basil, tostadas.
Fried chicken bun bread and butter pickles, hot sauce. Succulent crispy hot chicken with all the right trimmings. I was really sad when I finished the bun and had none left.
Prawn toast lime and sweet corn, smoked chilli mayo.
Lamb ribs sweet and sour glaze, puffed wheat. This was so tender and had a really nice glaze.
Udon noodles seared beef rump cap, egg yolk, crispy eschalot, kombu butter. I might be biased because I really love udon noodles, but this dish with its egg yolk creaminess reminded me of a creamy pasta dish without the heaviness. So delicious!
Iceberg salad pickled red onion, sunflower seeds, creme fraiche, dill. I thought it sounded boring because it had iceberg lettuce, but surprisingly this dish works!
Smoked beef rib molasses glaze, puffed rice, roast eggplant puree. Another really tender protein.
Rotisserie Huli Huli chicken lemon butter gravy. I loved the flavours of this chicken; the meat was juicy and the lemon butter provides just the right amount of tangy flavours.
Dishes were coming thick and fast, it was almost a shuffle game to fit everything on the table. Just as we adjusted plates and cups to move out of the way for one dish, another dish would appear almost straight away. We were served all the savoury dishes within the hour, but I would have liked a slower pace.
We really enjoyed everything and it was hard to choose a favourite but the pick of the night would have been between the fried chicken bun or the lamb ribs, but the udon noodles were a close second.
Key lime pie – this was a pretty decent serve per person and I did enjoy the unusual green colour. The base by itself wasn’t very nice but the pie with cream altogether had a nice balance of sweetness, creaminess and tart flavours.
Added on top Yes, my greedy eyes couldn’t help but order a few more items that weren’t included in the banquet.
Lobster lollipops kombu, sesame bonito mayo ($18.00 4 pcs). This was disappointing and fell really flat. You couldn’t really tell it was lobster and as tasty as the mayo was, it didn’t save this dish at all. I wouldn’t bother ordering this again.
Pecan pie burnt butter ice cream ($10.00). I didn’t think this was sweet enough and instead, I was getting bursts of salty flavours. The ice cream reminded me of a creme brulee with the torched sugar crust. I would not order this again.
It was a shame that the extras we ordered were a disappointment but if you stick with the Island banquet and it has those dishes, you can’t go wrong.
The staff were friendly and attentive, although there was some confusion with the dishes as one of us had dietary requirements but it was eventually clarified. I can imagine this place getting loud as the nightlife and bar begins to take over, but on a weekday we were not rushed, could talk comfortably and enjoyed our food.
Venue: Kokomo’s
Address: 1 Genge St, Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: (02) 6171 2092
Yes, I ate there last night and wrote this post quickly out of spite because TimmyC didn’t think I could get it done.
I’ll be hunting down: Taiwanese gua bao. I hope they have them today!
Interesting suggestion: One of my favourite food bloggers 
Pepper Lunch is bringing Japanese DIY Teppan to Canberra! Meals come out on a 260C hot plate and you cook the meat to your liking. Here is their ‘how to guide’:
Curry chicken pepper rice (a la carte $11.20). I really loved the curry sauce and I’ve decided that the next time I go, I’m getting something with that sauce!
Shimofuri ‘porterhouse’ pepper steak (a la carte $16.90). 
Giant rib eye steak (a la carte $24.90). This steak was noticeably bigger than the porterhouse but it was in the ‘giant’ section of the menu. I found this steak really delicious and ‘melt in your mouth’. It is on the more expensive end when compared with other menu items especially if you make it into a meal. 
You can make any a la carte menu item into a meal which includes one regular drink and one regular side for $4.90.
All the sundaes have the same ice cream base but they are covered in different toppings. There are four flavours: chocolate nut crush, caramel swirl, green tea delight and black seasame; they currently don’t have the black sesame flavour yet but they ensure me it is coming. I really enjoyed the caramel swirl and I really wanted to love the green tea delight but the flavour was so subtle, it was almost non existent. I hoping they adjust it and it will be better in the future.
It was getting toasty warm inside the restaurant between all the people and 260C plates, so I imagine the restaurant will be a popular place to be this winter.
They are really trying to ensure that things run smoothly with the restaurant having a soft opening for the next few days to train staff and slowly ease their way in before trading normal hours (see below).
Crispy fish BACO caper mayo, coleslaw, fried egg, scallion ($13.00). It wasn’t until I wrote this blog post did we realise that there was no fried egg in the baco. There was too much coleslaw which was over powering to the other ingredients and made the bottom of the baco very soggy.
Golden brown spit chicken thigh BACO smoky aioli, parmesan cheese, green slaw ($12.00). I got food envy smelling my friend’s baco, the chicken looked really succulent. My friend really enjoyed his baco and finished it all (with a knife and fork of course).
Spit roasted honey chicken wings house-made pickles, yoghurt flat bread ($16.00). We probably didn’t need more bread on the table but I really wanted to try their chicken wings. I am so glad that I ordered these because the chicken wings were meaty, juicy and I can’t believe their gave us 8 in a serve! The pickles were also really good and I would easily order this again.
It was served with a whole jar of pickled vegetables! They pickles were tangy and gave a nice balance to all the meat and heavy bread.
Sides~
Dessert~
Cookie Monster milk chocolate chip cookie, dark chocolate chip cookie, salted caramel, lemon vanilla and chocolate ice creams and dark chocolate sauce ($14.00). This was essentially a cookie stack and it was hard to eat all of them in one go because the cookies were hard. It was eventually dismantled and eaten separately. 
I can’t say that they do dessert well but I would definitely come back to Wood and Coal for their lunch specials. We found the service to be friendly and attentive but that might have been because we were the only people in the restaurant.
Three course lunch ($66.00 per person).
Entree~ (yes all of us chose the same entree)
Main~
Sous vide Angus beef tenderloin, baby spinach, red cabbage gel, artichoke, thyme and port jus. It might appear too rare for some (inside was quite pink), but the beef was tender and I cut through it effortlessly. A great pairing of flavours on the plate and with a few spoonfuls of the Paris mash, this was the ultimate lunch.
Maple glazed muscovy duck breast, couscous, kale, celeriac puree, tomato eggplant relish, prune gel.
Dessert~
Cheese and bickies Guilloteau Buche d’Affinois triple cream Brie, Reypenaer VSOP aged Gouda, Wyngaard Chevre Affine. When my friend said to try some of cheese board, I didn’t envisage myself eating almost half of it, but I found all three cheese delicious and very moreish.
This is one of the best meals that I’ve had in Canberra in a long time, one wonders why it took me so long to come back.
Happy friends all concentrating on defeating each other, only in the game of course.
Mocktails~
To share~
Pizza~ 9″ small meal or 11″ regular meal
Zombicide spicy chorizo, pepperoni, smoked ham, herbed lemon chicken breast, smoked bacon and homemade BBQ sauce (11″ size $18.00). A very delicious, meat-a-licious pizza, with a more even coverage of topping. I think if the base was a little fluffier or thinner, the slightly burnt edges wouldn’t be so hard.
The pepperoni pieces are a little thicker than I’m used to but that meant they didn’t burn as much.
There was a wait on food because it was so busy and the nature of wood-fired pizza but we didn’t notice as we were having so much fun playing Love Letter (Batman edition).
After dinner, we switched over to playing 
There are still a few teething issues with timing and service but they have only just opened over a week ago. We really enjoyed our time here, there are many games and options and the friendly staff are only more than eager to help; if you have zero idea they will also run through the game with you. It is very refreshing to have a something in civic that is fun and doesn’t revolve around drinking, although there are plenty of options for that too if that’s what you’re into. My friends and I would be very keen to come back and try out more of the menu and play more of their games.
TALES OF A CONFECTIONIST 